chronicle

English

Etymology

From Middle English cronicle, cronycle, from Anglo-Norman cronicle, from Old French cronike, from Latin chronica, from Ancient Greek χρονικός (khronikós, “of or concerning time”), from χρόνος (khrónos, “time”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɒnɪkəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɑnɪkl̩/
• Hyphenation: chron‧i‧cle

Noun

chronicle (plural chronicles)

1. A written account of events and when they happened, ordered by time.
   • 1841, Punch, or The London Charivari:

     Also a choice cachinatory chronicle, entitled "How to Laugh, and what to Laugh at."

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:

     Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.

Usage notes

• Often used in the title of a newspaper, as in Pennsylvania Chronicle.

Synonyms

• (account of events and when they happened): annals, archives, chronicon, diary, history, journal, narration, prehistory, recital, record, recountal, register, report, story, version

Derived terms

• Chronicler
• chronicular
• unchronicled

 

Related terms

• chronicler
• Chronicles
• chronist; Chronist; chronistically
• chronistic; Chronistic
• chronology; chronological

Translations

a written account

• Afrikaans: kroniek
• Albanian: kronikë (sq) f
• Arabic: تَارِيخ (ar) m (tārīḵ)
• Armenian: ժամանակագրություն (hy) (žamanakagrutʻyun)
• Bashkir: йылъяҙма (yılʺyaźma) (yearly)
• Belarusian: ле́тапіс (be) m (ljétapis), хро́ніка f (xrónika)
• Bulgarian: летопи́с (bg) m (letopís), хро́ника (bg) f (hrónika)
• Burmese: ရာဇဝင် (my) (raja.wang)
• Catalan: crònica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 編年史／编年史 (zh) (biānniánshǐ), 記事／记事 (zh) (jìshì)

• Czech: kronika (cs) f
• Danish: krønike c
• Dutch: kroniek (nl) f
• Estonian: ajaraamat, kroonika
• Finnish: aikakirja (fi), kronikka (fi)
• French: chronique (fr) f
• Georgian: მატიანე (maṭiane)
• German: Chronik (de) f
• Greek: χρονικό (el) n (chronikó)
• Hindi: इतिवृत्त (hi) (itivŕtt), कारनामा (kārnāmā), तारीख़ (tārīx)
• Hungarian: krónika (hu)
• Ido: kroniko (io)
• Indonesian: kronik (id), babad (id), tarikh (id)
• Irish: leabhar oiris m
• Italian: cronaca (it) f, notizia (it) f
• Japanese: 記録 (ja) (きろく, kiroku), 年代記 (ねんだいき, nendaiki)
• Kazakh: жылнама (jylnama)
• Khmer: កាលប្រវត្តិ (kaalaʼprɑvŏət)
• Korean: 연대기(年代記) (ko) (yeondaegi), 년대기(年代記) (ko) (nyeondaegi) (North Korea)
• Kyrgyz: жылбаян (jılbayan), жылнама (jılnama)
• Latin: chronica f, annales (la), annales (la) m pl
• Latvian: hronika f
• Lithuanian: kronika f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Chrönk (nds) (Northern Germany), Chröönk (nds) (Northern Germany)

• Macedonian: летопис m (letopis), хроника f (hronika)
• Malay: babad, riwayat
• Maori: tuhinga taki
• Norman: chronique f
• North Frisian: krönk (Föhr)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krønike m or f

  Nynorsk: krønike f

• Old English: cranic m
• Polish: kronika (pl) f
• Portuguese: crónica (pt) f, crônica (pt) f (Brazil)
• Romanian: cronică (ro) f
• Russian: ле́топись (ru) f (létopisʹ), хро́ника (ru) f (xrónika)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ле̏топӣс m, ље̏топӣс m, кро̀ника f

  Roman: lȅtopīs (sh) m, ljȅtopīs (sh) m, , krònika (sh) f

• Slovak: kronika f
• Slovene: kronika f
• Spanish: crónica (es) f
• Swedish: krönika (sv) c
• Tagalog: kronika
• Turkish: kronik (tr), vakayiname (tr)
• Ukrainian: хро́ніка f (xrónika), літо́пис m (litópys)

Verb

chronicle (third-person singular simple present chronicles, present participle chronicling, simple past and past participle chronicled)

1. (transitive) To record in or as in a chronicle.
   • 2015, Alan Schaefer, Joe Nick Patoski, Nels Jacobson, Homegrown: Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982, page 17:

     The posterists of Austin chronicled the changing social landscape and graphically redefined Texas for the rest of the country and the world […]

   • 2022 May 18, Steven Lee Myers, “A Panel to Combat Disinformation Becomes a Victim of It”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     As the board’s director, Ms. Jankowicz, 33, bore the brunt of the attacks, a subject she knows well. Her most recent book, called “How to Be a Woman Online,” chronicles abuses she and other women face from trolls and other malign actors on the internet.

   • 2022 December 9, “Wrexham: King and Queen Consort meet Hollywood royalty”, in BBC News:

     The stars also worked on a Disney+ docuseries chronicling the purchase and stewardship of the club, who currently play in the National League, which was being filmed when the King and Queen Consort visited.

Synonyms

• (record in a chronicle): record